09-30-2010, 08:10 AM
A Miami police officer has been sentenced to 13 months in prison for stealing an accident victim's ATM card and using it to withdraw $460 from their account.
According to the the U.S. Attorney's Office the incident happened last January when officer Christian Alvarez-Vega, 37, was sent to assist at the scene of a car accident. After Alvarez-Vega took a passenger who had been in the car to the hospital in his unmarked police car, he found the passenger's bank card.
Alvarez-Vega reportedly called the passenger claiming he needed the bank "PIN" number as part of his official police investigation. The passenger gave it to him.
Alvarez-Vega, still in uniform driving his marked police car, and without consent from the victim went to a supermarket ATM and used the bank card to withdraw $460 from the bank account, according to the arrest affidavit.
Alvarez-Vega appeared in federal bond court Thursday afternoon. He was released on a $150,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 29th for a preliminary hearing or arraignment.
In April, Alvarez-Vega was charged with depriving an individual of his civil rights while acting under color of law and possessing and using, without lawful authority, a means of identification of that same individual. During a hearing in July, he changed his plea. If convicted, he had faced a maximum of six years in prison.
According to the the U.S. Attorney's Office the incident happened last January when officer Christian Alvarez-Vega, 37, was sent to assist at the scene of a car accident. After Alvarez-Vega took a passenger who had been in the car to the hospital in his unmarked police car, he found the passenger's bank card.
Alvarez-Vega reportedly called the passenger claiming he needed the bank "PIN" number as part of his official police investigation. The passenger gave it to him.
Alvarez-Vega, still in uniform driving his marked police car, and without consent from the victim went to a supermarket ATM and used the bank card to withdraw $460 from the bank account, according to the arrest affidavit.
Alvarez-Vega appeared in federal bond court Thursday afternoon. He was released on a $150,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 29th for a preliminary hearing or arraignment.
In April, Alvarez-Vega was charged with depriving an individual of his civil rights while acting under color of law and possessing and using, without lawful authority, a means of identification of that same individual. During a hearing in July, he changed his plea. If convicted, he had faced a maximum of six years in prison.